Cooks Joy

Kaara Chutney (Spicy Onion-Tomato Chutney)

Hope everyone had a fun filled Diwali. For a change from the Diwali dishes, I am posting this simple condiment that is spicy and tasty. It all started after I got the recipe from my mom to make these delicious murukkus. Thinking it would help the cooking, I soaked the urad dal to make murrukus. Of course, the day being Halloween I could not get to making murrukus and the soaked dal sat in the fridge. I called my mom and asked her if it was still OK for me to use that dal for murukku and she insisted that I take fresh dal and cook without soaking.*Sigh*. I had a big bowl of dal in the fridge and with all the deep frying for the festival season, vadais were the last on my list. Thankfully Kanchipuram idlis came to the rescue and the nice thing about it is that the batter needs to be coarse and a blender would work fine. Next was the side dish for it and that is when I got this recipe from my mom. If you are in the mood for something hot and spicy, this is the chutney to go to. It paired perfectly with the idlis and the dal was gone too. Off to the recipe.

Kaara Chutney

By Vardhini, November 4, 2013

Spicy condiment with onions, tomatoes and more.

Total Time: 15 minutes
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Yield: 1 cup

Ingredients:

oil - 1 tsp
urad dal - 2 tbsp
onion - 1 1/2 cups - chopped into big pieces
tomatoes - 3/4 cup - chopped into big pieces
garlic - 4 - 5 cloves
red chillies - 3 - 4
green chilly - 1
coconut - 1 tbsp
tamarind - small piece
salt - to taste

Instructions:

In a tsp of oil fry the urad dal until golden brown. Add all the remaining ingredients to the dal except salt. Saute until the onion is cooked.

Allow to cool and blend well with salt. Serve with dosa, idli, etc.

My Notes
Adjust the quantity of chillies to taste.

1 year ago: Gulab Jamun
2 years ago: Spooky Witch Fingers

Pictorial
1. Fry the urad dal in a tsp of oil until they turn golden brown.